Background

According to Niko Bellic, he and Roman were primarilly raised by Roman’s mother, who raised both him and Roman, as their fathers were abusive alcoholics. When the Yugoslav Wars came, she used all of the money she had saved to send Roman to the United States of America. She also wanted to send Niko to the U.S., but he stayed to fight in the war.

In a conversation with Kate McReary, Niko says that he found Roman's mother raped and murdered, although Niko told Roman that she died in a house fire as he thought that telling Roman the truth would be too depressing.